[dvd-discuss] DMCA exemptions reply comments, one week left

[Seth Finkelstein <sethf(at)sethf.com>]

Useful general references:

"EFF is helping individuals fight for DMCA exemptions."
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/2003-DMCA-1201-comments.php

"How To Win (DMCA) Exemptions And Influence Policy"
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/finkelstein_on_dmca.html   

"Winning (DMCA) Exemptions, The Next Round"
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/finkelstein_on_dmca2.php
 

Article below:
http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2003/feb/news.shtml#4

LAW & ORDER
DMCA Opponents Target Change
by ANNE SAITA

Programmer Seth Finkelstein has some advice when venting about
shortcomings of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Watch your language.

Finkelstein won one of two exemptions from the U.S. Copyright Office
the last time it sought input on the controversial law in 2000. And he
did it, he says, by carefully crafting an argument based on practical
effects of a DMCA prohibition that prevented decrypting "censorware
blacklists" used by content filtering software.

 "The most surprising thing about the process was that they listened,"
Finkelstein says.

Every three years, the Copyright Office must make a public inquiry
into adverse effects caused by specific DMCA restrictions that protect
copyrighted works. The first deadline for written comment is
 over, but it's still possible to chime in by filing comments on one
of the 50 arguments now on the record-including 10 related to
information security (www.copyright.gov/1201/2003/comments/index.html). 
The deadline is Feb. 19.

Even the Copyright Office admits its 2000 recommendation ratio of 2 to
235 is "modest," mainly because most comments, though eloquently
presented, failed to show how the law inhibited research. Admittedly,
examples were hard to come by in the last round, since the law was
still relatively new and untested in  the courts.

This round is different. Though there are fewer written arguments
(mainly because of stricter submission guidelines), there also are
more specific instances to cite, such as Princeton University
professor Edward Felten's legal tussle with the recording industry
over publishing an academic exercise in breaking the watermarks on
musical digital files.

"It's going to be harder for them to say there's not enough evidence
in certain cases," he says. But, he adds, "though the chance is
greater, it's definitely not a sure thing."


-- 
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  sethf@sethf.com  http://sethf.com
Anticensorware Investigations - http://sethf.com/anticensorware/
Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/